1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a booklet having an over-size cover sheet as well as to a production method for such a booklet having an over-size cover sheet.
2. The Prior Art
Booklets, i.e. small booklets having a few sheets, represent a way to provide a limited amount of information to a user in printed form. Such a booklet generally comprises a few pages, up to several tens of pages.
Usually, the pages are sheets of paper, which are usually printed on both sides. The individual sheets are joined together after printing and bound on one side. In the simplest case, the binding can involve joining by means of simple staples. For more high-quality booklets, however, a folded and glued binding or a glued binding is preferred.
Subsequently, the sheets of the booklet are cut to the desired format, together, at their outer edges. Because of the limited number of pages and the resulting relatively slight material thickness of the entire booklet, it is possible to use known cutting or punching methods here.
Such a booklet can be enclosed with a product, for example, as a small information brochure or operating instructions. In special application cases, it is advantageous, in this connection, if the booklet is attached to the related product. For example, such a booklet can be glued onto the product by means of an adhesive.
In connection with the gluing of a booklet onto a product as described above, however, the possibility exists that the individual pages of the booklet will project away from the product. A poor appearance would therefore result. Furthermore, there is also the risk, if individual pages project out, that the booklet could quickly be damaged or could be torn off the product.
In order to counteract projecting of individual booklet pages, there are various efforts to also glue the uppermost page of the booklet, in other words the cover sheet, to the corresponding product. For this purpose, however, it is necessary that the cover sheet of the booklet projects beyond the other pages, at least at one location. Only in this way can the projecting region be glued directly to the product, in order to prevent projecting of the booklet pages.
If all the pages of the booklet are cut to a common size during production, as described above, however, the cover sheet at first possesses no region that would allow gluing of the cover sheet to the product. For this reason, it is necessary to subsequently enlarge the cover sheet once again, at the desired location, via additional method steps.
For example, an additional layer of material can be applied to the cover sheet, which is larger in dimensions at the desired location than the pages of the booklet that lie underneath. In this connection, however, the cover sheet would consist of at least two different material layers, and thus have a significantly greater thickness. Furthermore, the laminate to be applied to the booklet would have to be applied very precisely, and this requirement entails correspondingly great production effort.
Alternatively, it would also be possible to first cut all the sheets of the booklet to the desired format individually, and to select a larger dimension for the cover sheet, in this connection, right from the start. Only after all the sheets have been cut to size are they joined together using a suitable binding method. This procedure, however, requires very precise joining and binding of the individual sheets, with a corresponding greater process effort. Nevertheless, it generally cannot be guaranteed that the user can perceive certain tolerances of the individually joined pages.